This animated cartoon, featuring McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, was broadcast by Sky TV in the build up to last week’s British Grand Prix. It’s the first of a 12-part series called Tooned and has been produced by Framestore.
As cringeworthy as your first impression to this series may be, it’s actually not that bad. You can watch the premiere episode, “Wheel Nuts”, after the break.
Jenson Button took centre stage yesterday in one of the more bizarre incidents in Formula One history. Well, actually, what he took was Sebastian Vettel’s parking spot when the two drivers came in to pit during the Chinese Grand Prix.
As world champion constructor Red Bull Racing has the first garage in pit lane. McLaren, Button’s team, has the next garage down. So, when Button and Vettel raced into pitlane mechanics, from both teams were out waiting for their drivers. Button charged straight into the Red Bull spot, paused a little, was frantically waved on by Red Bull’s lollipop man, and then moved ahead to his McLaren bay a few metres ahead. Vettel seemed unfazed and the Red Bull team reacted with precision by sending out their man ahead of Button.
So, did Button simply make a rookie error? Was it a devious ploy to distract his rival team? Or has Button (not so) secretly revealed his wish to drive for Red Bull Racing?
While you can, check out the clip after the break.
[Pic: twitpic via @keithdaltons]
Vodafone UK’s latest video promotion sees McLaren drivers Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton build a Formula One car. Obvious pranks and comments are made; it’s still a bit of a giggle and shows, despite the common belief, the team at McLaren actually have a sense of humour.
Check the clip after the jump.
The 2010 Canadian Formula One Grand Prix saw a second consecutive one-two victory for the McLaren team. Lewis Hamilton started from pole and, despite a margin of just over two seconds from second placed Jenson Button, he won the race in reasonable comfort in the end. That doesn’t tell the whole story, though.
After qualifying on the soft “option” tyres it was expected Hamilton would come under pressure from the two Red Bull Racing cars, with both Webber and Vettel on the harder, more durable “prime” tyres. As it was Webber was penalised five grid places after having a gearbox change following qualifying.
But the real story of the race was the rate at which the tyres wore across the board. The prime tyres wore out quickly, as expected. However, the prime tyres also wore much quicker than predicted which meant most teams made two pitstops for a second set of prime tyres.
With no mechanical failures or accident carnage at the head of the field it was a reasonably close and exciting race. In the end, Hamilton won the day ahead of teammate Jenson Button and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.
Hamilton now leads the drivers standings on 109 points. Button is in second (106pts) and after relinquishing his title lead Mark Webber is close behind in third place (103pts). McLaren maintain their lead in the constructors race with 215 points ahead of Red Bull (193pts) and Ferrari (161pts).
Over 60 photos from Montreal are all yours after the jump and simply click on the pics you like to load a 2000px super image.
McLaren are pushing their MP4-12C supercar pretty hard. And that’s not pushing the performance envelope, either. While they are doing that, no doubt, they are also hyping this car and making sure it remains at the forefront of everyone’s mind. Remember, the 12C isn’t due for customer deliveries until early 2011 (or possibly late 2010).
The most recent method of hyping the 12C is to launch a configurator on the McLaren website. It’s just a bit of hit and giggle at the moment, especially as no pricing has been announced. However, it is quite a bit of fun. You can select paint colour, minor exterior trim detail as well as wheel and brake packages. Inside you can fiddle around with seat fabric colour and infotainment equipment. Oh, the track data option is a must, naturally.
More pics and a press statement after the jump. Including the obligatory opportunity to roll out Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.
After the press release I’ve also included a few screen grabs of my preferred option. It’s got Titanium Silver exterior colour, with super-lightweight forged alloys. There’s carbon ceramic brakes, too, with the calipers painted in McLaren Orange. And to set it off on the inside there’s a mix of leather and alcantara. What do you think? Let us know your options in the comments section below.
Formula One world champions Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton recently got their hands on a pair of prototype McLaren MP4-12Cs and were given an empty Goodwood track to test the car. With a 3.8 litre V8 ‘M838T’ engine producing 600bhp and an impressive 600Nm of torque, coupled to a, F1-like Seamless Shift Gearbox with seven gears, the lads were sure to have some fun.
Given their current employment status it’s no surprise that Button and Hamilton reckon the 12C is a tidy bit of kit. Jenson exclaims, “I was amazed by the car’s great stability at high speeds. It’s very quick in a straight line, too. In fact, the biggest problem with driving this car on a circuit is that sometimes you forget it’s a road car!”Meanwhile, Lewis says, “The 12C is a real driver’s car; it delivered on all my expectations. The visibility is great from the driver’s seat. You really appreciate that in tight corners. I loved the McLaren F1 when I drove it and, like that car, the huge front windscreen of the 12C allows you to take in all the information needed for perfect lines through apex turns.”
By the time the MP4-12C goes into final production more than 50 engineers will have driven 40-plus development cars in excess of 1,000,000 miles. That’s a lot of testing. Around 12 venues were used for testing, including the Top Gear test track and the Nürburgring Nordschleife. The 12C has also been pushed to extremes of another kind by being tested at temperatures of -50°C and +50°C.
There’s more after the break, including video of Jenson and Lewis at the wheel of the MP4-12C.
McLaren have just launched their new website for the 2010 Formula One season. As you would expect there’s lots of bells and whistles, perfectly placed logos and a general order about the way things are done.
There’s some good info on the team’s 2010 challenger, the MP4-25, as well as the drivers, reigning World Champion Jenson Button and former champ Lewis Hamilton.
One item really worth checking out during the year is the McLaren Race 1.0b feature that will provide fans with live GPS-supported coverage of qualifying and races. Telemetry and commentary will also be available. Sounds very much worth a look when the F1 circus hits the track in Bahrain. Not long to go now!
[Source: mclaren.com]
The dreams of the Honda F1 team appear to have come true with news Mexican telecommunications billionaire Carlos Slim Helú (inset pic) has bought the team, according to a report in Italian newspaper La Stampa. Slim is reported to be the world’s second richest man and has proven experience in motorsport with his Telmex company being a long time supporter of the US based Chip Ganassi Racing.
The news is yet to be confirmed in an official capacity, and autosport.com is reporting that Slim is just one of four parties in negotiations with Honda F1 Racing.
However, according to the La Stampa article it is believed Slim paid the £1 asking price announced by Honda when confirming plans to quit Formula One. If this news comes to fruition it is likely the revitalised team will keep Britain’s Jenson Button for one of the driving positions, while the other drive will go to Brazilian Bruno Senna (pictured above during testing in November). Bruno is the nephew of F1 legend and triple world champion Ayrton Senna. This means the former Honda driver, Brazilian veteran Rubens Barichello, could be forced into retirement.
Importantly, master tactician Ross Brawn will also be kept on staff and assuming Slim throws the full weight of his finances behind the team, the F1 circus will see the welcome the addition of new privateer player on the starting grid.
Source: autoblog, AFP & autosport.com. (Thanks to Nick and Dylan for the tips.)